The standard approach to language processing focuses on ‘cold’ computation, on how listeners work out the bits of information that speakers want to pass on to them, and on how speakers work out what listeners already know so that a few less bits need to be transferred. However, language users are not like computer modems passing information to and fro. Brains deeply care about good and bad. And for good reason: staying away from bad stuff and approaching good stuff helps keep you alive and healthy. In this course, we will explore the implications of this evolutionary perspective for linguistic communication. In the first phase of the course you will learn about the affective system (emotions, moods, preferences), about how cognition is infused with affect, about embodied cognition, and about how affect might interface with linguistic communication. Topics for the second phase can include such things as taboo words and cursing, affective semantics, argumentative word choice in debates, affective prosody, sarcasm, politeness and 'facework' in conversation, the role of language in emotion regulation, language use under stress, emoticons, affective connotations of typography, empathy in fiction, persuasion through text, reader motivation, and cross-linguistic or (L1/L2) acquisition aspects of all of this.